"Phere is no such thing in Russian law as an illegitimate child," states "Russian Information and Review," published' by the Information Department of the Russian Trade Delegation. "Soviet family law is distinguished by two all-important features. The first and foremost is the care taken to safeguard the interests of the child. The right "of the child to existence, to proper care and food, and, under proper errcumstances, to direct support by its parents, is recognized, whether the child has been born in wedlock or not.... Whether formally married or not, the pacts ave given rights ove: their children only in so far as sach rights are to the interest of the latter. If a parent in any way abuses such rights he is liable to be deprived of them altogether in a court of law.
"The second important feature of Soviet family law is the fact that the registration of a marriage, whether civil or ecclesiastical, confers no special rights on hms-band or wife. Marriage may be dissolved at any time without difficulty.
It is stated that the number of divorces that now: occur in Russia does not exceed 5 to 10 per cent. of the registered marriages. "Th is true that there was a period in 1918 when the number of divorces was actually greater than the number of' marriages. But. this only proved the number of unhappy marriages that had existed previously, which under the old laws had to be endured. To-day, on the other hand, with the establishment of normal conditions, divorce—though easy enough to obtain—is no longer of abnormally frequent occurrence.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.